


Next Door

by acornsandarrows



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 09:25:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2423618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acornsandarrows/pseuds/acornsandarrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A British boy with a bulldog moves in next door to Thomas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next Door

**Author's Note:**

> unedited rip

Thomas is scared of dogs. He has been ever since he was bitten by a Rottweiler when he was five, so it’s no surprise that when a large bulldog races at him, leash flying, he drops his chalk on the ground and hightails down the road. They’re about a block down when the dog stops, and a boy pops up behind it, panting.

“Sorry,” he says, breathing heavily, “you alright?”

Thomas looks from the boy to the dog, he tries to mask how scared he feels by scowling.

“I’m fine. How come you can’t keep your dog under control?”

The other boy, instead of being offended, laughs.

“She’s a puppy,” he explains. “My sister’s been trying to train her but…” he grins at Thomas, “she’s not too good at it.” Thomas feels a smile tugging at his lips.

“Where do you live?” he asks, because he’s never seen the boy before in his life.

“Mm…” the boy points his thumb over his shoulder. “Back that way.”

“You sound funny,” Thomas says, falling into step with the boy as they walk back down the street. Again, the boy laughs.

“I’m from England,” he explains. Thomas’ eyes widen.

“Like the country?”

“Of course! Where else?”

Thomas shrugs and tries not to blush. This boy seems a little older than him, he doesn’t want to come off as being stupid.

“This is me,” says the boy, stopping in front of a house with a green door.

“Huh!” Thomas exclaims. “You’re next door to me.” And he points at the house to the left to illustrate his point.

“If we live so close, how come this is the first time we’ve met?”

“I just moved here,” the older boy explains. “I guess that means it’s up to you to show me around.”

Thomas smiles toothily.

“I know this place like the back of my hand. Don’t worry, I’ll help you out” he can feel his chest swell a little, this boy might be older, but Thomas has lived here all eight years of his life.

“I’ll count on it,” the boy laughs, and he pushes open the green door, waving at Thomas. “Bye.”

~

That night Thomas hears a knock on his window. He jumps up, feeling both fear and curiosity burn through his body. His bedroom is on the second floor. Deciding to risk it, he sprints across his room and grabs a wooden sword from two christmas’ ago, then runs back and flings open the window. There, leaning out of his own window, is the boy from earlier.

“Oh!” says Thomas, relieved. “Hello.”

“I realised,” the boy says conversationally, “I never told you my name. I’m Isaac Newtson.”

“Like the science guy?”

Isaac rolls his eyes, as though he’s been asked that many many times, but Thomas smiles.

“My name’s Thomas Edison.”

Isaac’s eyes widen.

“You’re named after a science guy too?” Thomas nods.

“Do you like to invent stuff?”

“Not really. Do you like to have apples fall on your head?”

Isaac laughs and swats at him. Thomas can see a large pile of boxes in his room, evidence of the recent move.

“You could make an awesome box castle with that stuff,” he says, nodding at it. Isaac looks nonplussed.

“A what?”

Thomas gasps.

“You don’t know what a box castle is?” and before Isaac can say anything, he’s pushing through his window and falling into Isaac’s room. He stands up, and brushes himself off.

“I’ll show you,” he says.

~

 On the first day of school Thomas and Isaac sit together. Thomas is a year younger than Isaac, but his parents decided he and his twin, Teresa, would start school early, so they’re in the same grade. And, luckily, the same class.

They sit at a table with a group of other boys called Minho, Albert, and one kid nicknamed ‘Frypan’. No one knows his real name, and Thomas soon learns not to ask.

After school Isaac climbs in through Thomas’ window and they watch the Lord of the Rings, and fight each other with bows and arrows made of sticks and string found in the garden. Then they lie on their backs on Thomas’ trampoline and Thomas asks Isaac questions about why they even need to go to school and Isaac acts as though he knows the answer until Teresa calls them both in for dinner.

~

Thomas can’t even be bothered to be annoyed when Isaac calls him ‘Tommy’ anymore. Neither of them are sure exactly when the nickname came into fruition, they’ve known each other about two years at this point, and there’s no way Isaac will budge now. Isaac still likes to milk it though.

“Hey, Tommy.”

“What?”

“Tommy, I gotta tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“Tommy.”

“Yeah?!”

“Tommy.”

“What?”

“Patience is a virtue.” Isaac says, and Thomas rolls his eyes, pushing him over.

‘Newt’ came about a little later. Thomas takes to calling all his friends by their last name when he gets into grade 7, he figures it makes him look cool. The only problem is, Isaac never replies to ‘Newton,’ so one day Thomas figures, what the hell, and calls out “hey Newt!”

Isaac raises an eyebrow.

~

Thomas spends most of his summers at Isaac’s house. He’s the one with the inflatable pool, after all. He tries to submerge himself, but his butt sticks out in the air. Isaac sprays it with his water gun.

“Hey,” complains Thomas, surfacing.

“Bloody fight me,” Isaac smirks, hitting Thomas’ in the face next. Thomas grabs a discarded water gun, and gets Isaac right in the chest. Isaac mimes dying slowly, and Thomas walks over to him, watching as he gurgles quietly, then flops down, tongue lolling. Thomas aims his gun carefully, and shoots a jet of water right into Isaac’s mouth. Isaac sits up, spluttering, and glares at Thomas.

“Can we go get ice cream?” Thomas asks.

~

In year 8 Isaac grows taller than Thomas, and seems exasperated at how much Thomas cares.

“Relax Tommy,” he says one afternoon as they sit in Thomas’ room, “it’s barely noticeable.”

“Yeah well,” Thomas grumbles “now I won’t even be able to use your height when idiot Minho calls me short.”

Isaac laughs.

“What you lack in height Tommy, you make up with bloody charm.”

Thomas pokes his tongue out, then goes back to reading his biology textbook. Something he often does for fun. Isaac shakes his head and smiles.

“What?” asks Thomas.

“You’re a buggin’ idiot.”

“Thanks, you too.”

~

The year Thomas turns 14 and Isaac 15, something changes. They still hang out, but it’s different somehow. Isaac will brush past Thomas when walking somewhere, and Thomas feels as though electric currents are running through his body.

Isaac is known as ‘Newt’ by almost everyone know, and whenever Thomas calls him Isaac he feels like it means something. The same as when Isaac calls him ‘Tommy’, which no one else does.

One night, one of the few where Isaac didn’t linger until the early hours of the morning playing games or listening to Thomas rant about all the things that made him curious, Teresa asks Thomas when he and Isaac had become ‘official’. She says it with a nudge and a wink, then leaves before Thomas can answer. That night Thomas comes to the conclusion he wants to kiss Isaac all over his beautiful face.

~

On Thomas’ sixteenth birthday Isaac steers him out onto the trampoline, where they sit next to each other, lean back and look at the stars above them. Isaac mumbles something about wanting to give Thomas his birthday present in private, and when Thomas looks at Isaac, his heart beating hard against his ribs, Isaac leans in and brushes their lips together. He pulls back, and looks at Thomas with an expression of fear and vulnerability Thomas has never seen before. Then Thomas grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him back in because he didn’t suffer through two years of supposedly one-sided feelings just for a peck on the lips.

When the go back inside holding hands Minho wolf whistles and Albert (Alby, now) smiles like he knew all along.

Which, Thomas tells Isaac later, as they sit shoulder to shoulder on Thomas’ couch and watch ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, he probably did.

~

After graduation, they have a conversation which goes a little like this:

“Hey, Newt?”                                               

“Mm?”

“Do you wanna uh. Would you like to. Um.”

“Bloody word wizard, you are.”

“Will you be my roommate in college?”

There’s a pause, and Thomas watches as a slow, wide smile settles on Isaac’s face. Then he tells Thomas he’s already made plans to live with Minho and Thomas punches his arm and they kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, worried about my characterization. if you see any issues with it/have any tips, please leave a comment


End file.
